[Cloning and insertion mutagenesis of DNA fragment coding for the luminescent system of Photobacterium leiognathi]

Fragments of DNA, obtained from the luminescent bacterium Photobacterium leiognathi and inserted into the plasmid pBR322, were found to code for the luminescence expressed in E. coli cells. The genetic functions necessary for light production in E. coli are localized on a DNA fragment of about 7 kbp. The insertion mutagenesis was used to define the luminescence functions encoded by the hybrid plasmid.